Star Wars: The Next Generation
by Interspark
Summary: In the Jedi Temple, a new generation of Padawans is rising through the ranks towards knighthood, featuring an adorable hipster, rebellious punk and lovable angel. Max, Chloe and Rachel, while strong in the Force, aren't always the best at following the rules. But will their eccentricities hinder or help them, when the universe throws them its worst?
1. Prologue

In the Jedi Temple, towering over the bustling city planet of Coruscant, were three Jedi padawans. Of course, at any one time, there were hundreds of Padawans being trained, and to the inattentive observer these three were no more remarkable than any other juvenile Jedi, to everyone else though, their strength in the Force, and promising destinies were clear.

First, there was Maxine Celeste (Max, to anyone who didn't want a deathly, disapproving glare). She was a human, born on Alderaan to a wealthy senator and her husband. While it hadn't been easy, the promise of a prosperous future among the Jedi had eventually convinced her parents to part with her, as a toddler.

Max was a quiet child. While she was prone to distress and heightened emotional states when under pressure, she did a good job of keeping her emotions under control, as Jedi should. In many ways, she was the ideal Padawan, one of the few ways she wasn't, was her penchant for creativity. Jedi weren't supposed to have hobbies, or much in the way of personalities at all, wherever their masters could control it, nevertheless, Max could do nothing about the fact that, in her heart, she was a photographer.

Photography was something of a dying art, especially on Coruscant. With the gaps between classes widening every year, everyone was either too poor or busy to appreciate art, or too rich to appreciate anything that wasn't carved or painted by someone who was already a galaxy-renowned artist, and it was hardly as though Max, as a Jedi, could seek critical acclaim, even if there was a market for artistic photography.

Nevertheless, whenever Max caught sight of something that stirred feelings within her, be they of appreciation, awe, or sometimes even fear, she couldn't help but whip out her data pad and record it for her expansive collection, kept safe from her disapproving masters by layers of encryption, and cunningly hidden backups (courtesy of her more technologically inclined fellow padawans).

The crown jewel of her collection, she had captured while sneaking across the roofs, surrounding one of the temple courtyards, to glimpse a sparring match between Master Windu and Master Yoda. She had captured a moment in which Yoda had leapt over his opponent's head, and struck downwards, with a glorious collision of their lightsabers and a gleam of green and purple which, thanks to Max's talent, only framed the dramatic scene, rather than obscuring the subjects. Even though she had done her best to mask her presence, Max fully expected to get caught (it was worth the risk, in her mind). To her surprise though, neither Jedi master called out to her, and, although she was far away, she could have sworn she saw Master Yoda look up and wink.

Next, there was Chloe Preeva, a Dathomirian. Her mother had been one of the Night Sisters, who had left Dathomir with her when she was a baby, in search of a less stifling life, where she might be more free to express herself. Unfortunately, the life she found didn't quite meet her expectations. After travelling to Coruscant, she soon became stuck in its swamp-like economy, her pockets emptying before she knew it, and barely being able to feed herself and her child, much less travel to a nicer planet. Her luck improved somewhat, when she fell in love with a handsome Twi'lek, and worsened, when they were both murdered by a mugger a year later.

When the Jedi had found Chloe, she had been in the care of her teenage stepbrother. Jedi were discouraged from finding out too much about their personal histories, from before they joined the order, but Chloe had been told that a small sum of credits, had been all it took to separate her and her brother. As Chloe would come to understand, though, the Jedi were not above lying, to get their way...

Of course, Chloe had never had the facial tattoos around her eyes and lips, which were common for Night Sisters, she was, however, able to persuade her masters to allow her to dye her hair. While naturally silver, she perpetually kept it a light, sky blue.

Chloe was an artist, too. Unlike Max, however, she liked to leave an impression. For a long time, in her youth, she would gather anything that could leave a mark, be it paint, ink, or even sharp objects, and then express her feelings and emotions, over every inch of the walls of her small chambers. Of course, her murals would be quickly erased, and she would be chastised and/or punished, but like Max, Chloe's creativity would not be suppressed. She attempted to sneak to the deeper, less used areas of the temple, to use the walls there as her canvasses, only to be caught by the temple archivist, Madame Yocasta, who spent over an hour berating her, and insulting both her attitude, and her artistic ability. That night, burning with resentment and anger, Chloe had hijacked one of the temple's security drones, and used it to scorch a hundred-foot illustration of a demonic Sarlacc onto the wall of the temple foyer. Chloe had spent a month in the temple cells for her crime, and her place at the temple was left hanging by a thread.

Since then, Chloe had rethought her strategy, and instead snuck out of the temple at night, to take her art to the streets of Coruscant. While she still got caught from time to time, her new crime was far more palatable to her superiors, since they no longer had to clean up after her.

Finally, there was Rachel Aether, a Diathim. Often mistaken for angels (and more commonly still, referred to as such), Diathim bore the curious trait of adopting an entirely different appearance, for each person who laid eyes upon them. Specifically, Diathim appeared as an angelic adaptation of each observer's species, the common denominators often being clear, pale skin, a glowing aura and six translucent, veil-like wings. While Madame Yocasta would inform anyone curious enough that there had, in fact, been Diathim Jedi in the past, there hadn't been, as long as anyone alive could remember, first hand.

Rachel was truly a free spirit, she respected the rules of the Jedi, and gave 100% towards each new lesson, excelling at almost all Jedi disciplines, but at the same time, encouraged her friends to express themselves through their rule-breaking, without putting pressure on them. She relished in posing for Max's pictures, and was Chloe's biggest fan, squealing and clapping her hands in excitement, whenever she heard she was starting a new project.

The three girls adored each other. It was incredible that three who got along so well, would be brought together from such distant parts of the galaxy and such different walks of life. Unfortunately, what had brought them together was the Jedi, which meant affection was frowned upon, romance was strictly forbidden, and danger was ever present on the horizon.


	2. The Weapon of the Jedi Knight

The angry buzz of lightsabers colliding sounded rhythmically, as Chloe and Rachel sparred in one of the Temple's training rooms. The room was spacious and rectangular, with a soft mat taking up most of the floor space, and a rack taking up most of the wall, bearing dozens of different lightsabers. At twelve years old, the padawans were yet to build their own lightsabers, so they dueled with the non-lethal, silver-bladed training sabers. Of course, there were many instances of Jedi younger than them embarking on The Gathering, to find their lightsaber crystals, but there was no particular rush to arm the children, while the galaxy was enjoying a spell of relative peace.

While Rachel faught with a more traditional sabre, with a spiraling hilt she'd liked the look of, Chloe had a rare preference for the double-ended lightsaber. Even without the blade, the weapon was almost as big as she was, but Chloe span, jabbed and slashed with it, with impressive confidence. Max sat cross-legged opposite the rack, studying Jedi history on her data tab, and occasionally lifting it, to capture scenes of the fight. All three of them wore the standard, brown Jedi robes, and a single braid in their hair, indicating their status as padawans.

Rachel swayed out of range of Chloe's attack, and lunged in what she thought was an opening, only to be blocked by Chloe's second blade.

"You know..." Rachel said, with a slightly bitter edge to her voice, "Some people might say that two blades bring an unfair advantage..."

Chloe ducked under Rachel's attack, and blocked the second.

"I think those people need to get better at fighting with one blade." Chloe teased, winking at Rachel.

The two weapons collided violently, and Rachel and Chloe stared each other down, each attempting to force the other backwards. Taking Rachel by surprise, Chloe leant back, dodging Rachel's blade, and spinning her own around, attacking from the other end. Rachel lifted her palm in the nick of time, seizing Chloe's wrist through the Force, and sending her sliding backwards on the balls of her feet, with a Force Push.

"Don't you think you're wasting your time, training with that?" Rachel asked, sincerely. "I didn't think Jedi are even allowed to use double-bladed sabers."

"What are you talking about?" Chloe asked, bemusedly. "Master Krell uses two of them!"

"Yeah, but he's like eight feet tall!" Rachel pointed out. "And you're..." she smiled patronisingly and held two fingers close together, "... not..."

With a determined smile that promised to make Rachel pay for her mockery, Chloe dashed forwards and swung again.

"Okay, besides Master Krell. What Jedi uses a double-bladed lightsaber?" Rachel challenged, as she parried Chloe's attacks.

"Bastila Shan?" Max interjected, meekly.

"Who?" Chloe asked.

"She was a Jedi in the Old Republic, who mastered Battle Meditation." Max explained, without looking up from her data pad. "She faught with a yellow, double-bladed lightsaber."

"What is it with you and this Old Republic?" Rachel asked, endeared.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's like, you know a bunch of cool facts about the galaxy right now, and the galaxy from 4,000 years ago, but hardly anything about the time in between."

Max shrugged defensively. "It's just an interesting era in history."

Chloe held her lightsaber against Rachel's again, hoping to engage in another battle of strength, but instead stumbled forwards, as Rachel pushed against Chloe's weapon, floating backwards, through the air, her wings delicately stretching outwards, before she placed her feet against the wall, and shot at Chloe like a missile. Chloe just barely parried, having to place a hand on the training room floor, to keep herself from falling.

"So, two blades is cheating, but wings aren't?" She complained, dryly.

Rachel hovered in the air, over Rachel. "If I was a Hutt, I'd tell you not to use your legs." She teased.

Rachel continued to use her wings for the duel, although they didn't offer her much speed. She skittered across the training room floor on her toes, unrestricted by friction or gravity, making her somewhat hard to predict.

Before long, Chloe faught Rachel into a corner, and began forcing her blade towards her opponent, despite Rachel's resistance. Rachel took one hand off her hilt and grabbed Chloe's.

"Hey!" Chloe protested.

Chloe mirrored Rachel, placing one hand over hers, around her weapon. Both weapons deactivated, and Chloe pulled Rachel into a playful headlock. The duel forgotten, the two of them wrestled each other to the training room floor, in a giggling heap, making Max laugh too.

As was all too often the case in the Jedi Temple, the fun was promptly derailed, by the unexpected appearance of an adult. "Intriguing form..." Came a muffled voice from the doorway, making the three of them jump. "I'll have to employ it, next time I see battle."

Standing in the doorway, was the Jedi Master, Plo Koon. Like most of his species, when away from their home world of Dorin, Master Plo's eyes were hidden behind metal grates, and his lower face was concealed by a ventilator, which filtered the oxygen out of the air, leaving a bumpy, brown forehead, and a pair of fleshy horns, on each side of his head, still visible.

Rachel, Chloe and Max quickly climbed to their feet, and bowed respectfully, their hands clasped in their laps, Rachel and Chloe blushing slightly.

"I'm assessing the padawans' progress in lightsaber combat. The two of you are showing remarkable progress." Plo Koon explained.

"Thank you Master."

"Thanks..."

Rachel and Chloe were relieved that the Jedi Master had been watching long enough to witness the prouder moments of the duel.

"So... is this assessment... because we're ready for our own lightsabers...?" Chloe asked, gingerly. She'd been chastised in the past, for being overly eager to possess a weapon.

The skin where Master Plo's eyebrows would be, if he had any, furrowed around his lenses. His facial expressions were something of a mystery to those who didn't spend a lot of time with him, a group which unfortunately included the three padawans.

"So, it would seem." The master eventually conceded.

"Heck yes!" Chloe cheered, punching the air, before immediately biting her tongue and bowing again. "Thanks... Master Plo..."

"The only padawan I've yet to assess, is padawan Celeste." Plo Koon turned to face Max.

"M... me?" Max stammered. "I'm... not as good as these two."

"Yeah, if she doesn't pass, the rest of us still get our lightsabers, right?" Chloe asked.

Rachel frowned disapprovingly and punched Chloe's forearm. "You got this, sweetie!" She cheered.

"I don't know if I'm ready..." Max conceded.

"I'll be the judge of that, if you don't mind." Plo Koon replied.

Nervously, Max crossed the room, and joined Chloe and Rachel at the weapons rack.

Rachel held one of her shoulders, reassuringly. "You're gonna do great!" She whispered.

Chloe nudged her other shoulder playfully. "I was just kidding, you know. You're way better than you think you are."

Max carefully scanned the rack. Even though she wasn't as confident with a saber as her friends, she did have a favourite. It was one with a latticed, leather grip, and a metallic, inverted dome-shaped guard, almost like a sword, a member of a primitive species might wield. Additionally, it was a Shoto lightsaber, a shorter variant, usually only wielded in the offhand, by Jedi who preferred twin sabers, or by Jedi like Master Yoda, who were too small for regular lightsabers. Max enjoyed the control and maneuverability, that the smaller blade offered.

Weapon in-hand, Max joined Master Plo Koon on the training mat, and they both bowed deeply. With a sharp buzz of energy, the intimidating master activated his saber, the blue blade extending in her direction. He lifted it, and placed one foot forwards, in a defensive stance, waiting for her to make the first move. Max engaged her own, silver blade, held it to her side, and focused.

What Max lacked in skills with a saber, she more than made up for, in her unique and powerful perception. When Max concentrated, she could reach out through the Force, and see forwards and backwards in time, predicting enemies' attacks in combat, and sensing the history of places and objects.

There were many ways this fight could go. Max knew Master Plo favoured his left hand, so attacks from the right would glean better results, but even then, there would be countless ways the skilled master could counter. It didn't surprise Max that, after several seconds of searching, she as unable to sense a timeline in which she did anything that resembled defeating Plo Koon.

Before Max settled on a timeline to reenact, Master Plo shifted his stance and lunged with a horizontal slash. Max yelped in surprise, blocking the blue lightsaber with her own, but still being knocked down, into a crouching position. Plo Koon followed with a strike downwards, which Max acrobatically rolled clear of.

"Your power is a useful tool in battle, little one." The Kel Dor master advised. "But you must use it _with _your lightsaber, not use them alternately."

Plo Koon's words sank in. Of course, in a real fight, Max's enemies wouldn't wait for her to leisurely peruse the timelines. There were countless ways she could attack, too many to read in a fight, but if she waited for Master Plo to attack, her options of evading were far more manageable...

Max disabled her lightsaber blade and clipped it to the belt of her robe. Plo Koon's not-eyebrows lifted slightly. The master attacked, and Max effortlessly ducked the swing of his blade, backed away from the next, and backflipped over the third.

Plo Koon laughed, or at least, he breathed several times in quick succession. "Excellent, Padawan Celeste. However, evasion alone will not help you end a fight."

"Come on, Max! Fight back!" Chloe cheered.

"Don't be afraid!" Rachel added.

A moment in the future, Max saw Master Plo placing a Force Grip on her, much more difficult to evade, than his saber. Quickly silencing her inner anxieties, Max lunged, the second Master Plo lowered his weapon, and slashed with her own, swinging the hilt as she activated the blade. Plo Koon crouched under the attack, ducking the silver saber by inches, and following through with a Force Push before Max hit the ground, sending the padawan flying across the room, freezing in the air, moments before slamming into the wall.

"Excellent!" Plo Koon repeated. "Your timing was perfect. With a real lightsaber, a lesser Jedi would certainly have lost their head." He laughed again.

"Does that mean...?" Chloe breathed, as Max gently lowered to the ground.

Plo Koon looked between the children silently for a moment. "Pack your things, padawans. Tomorrow, we embark on a Gathering."


	3. Embarking on the Gathering

**Hey guys, quick authors note: As many have requested, this story is now on AO3, enjoy!**

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None of the padawans got much sleep, that night. It was rare that padawans so young were allowed to leave the temple at all, and tomorrow, they would be travelling across the stars to one of the many crystal caverns, around the galaxy, frequented by the Jedi, to find their lightsaber crystals.

Restless beyond sleeping, Chloe snuck out of her chambers and into Max's and Rachel's, to share her excitement with them, until they kicked her out, one after the other, so they could sleep, prompting Chloe to sneak out onto the roof, to practice her forms. Regardless, she was still chipper, and full of energy, early the next morning, as the Coruscant morning sun lit the orange smog on the metallic horizon.

Rachel, Chloe and Max were three in a class of six Jedi younglings, who had joined the order at the same time. They had all their lessons together, spent much of their free time together and, as the Masters often told them, they were bound, through the Force, although none of them fully understood what that meant.

First, there was Alyssa, a Mikkian, a humanoid race, distinguished by their vibrantly-coloured skin (light purple in Alyssa's case), and mane of short tentacles, that floated freely from their scalp, making them look like they were underwater. Even though any padawan worth their midi-chlorians knew that what most people called "luck" was simply the will of the Force, it couldn't be denied that Alyssa's luck was bad, leading her to make a lot of self-deprecating jokes about how the Force hated her. It seemed like every day, that Alyssa would trip, drop things or even befall physical mishaps that were other people's fault.

It was difficult for her friends too because, although Alyssa was sweet and friendly, her misfortunes were usually very funny, making them feel bad for laughing.

Then, there was Brooke, the Rodian. A reptile with green skin, wide, starry, black eyes and a pair of small antennae. She had a passion for technology. Since the six padawans met at the Temple's hangar, she had been talking the ears off anyone who would listen (and a few who tried not to) about all the different kinds of lightsaber, how they worked, and how tangible science melded with the enigma that was the Force, to make the weapon possible.

It was Brooke who helped Max keep her photographs safe. Although she had no eye for art, herself, she valued her friendship with Max, and was happy to help her, when Max needed it, knowing Max would do the same for her, in a heartbeat. In fact, her penchant for gadgets had taken its toll. Years of excessive staring at data pads had left Brooke with a pair of corrective circular lenses, fitted securely over her eyes, by a strap.

Finally, there was Warren, the other human in the group, and the only boy. Unfortunately, there was only so much, Jedi training could do, the sequester adolescent hormones. He was a notorious flirt, and not nearly as good at masking his intentions, as he thought he was. He would often find flimsy excuses to spend time with the other padawans alone, with only a slight preference for Max. Like most humans, Warren wasn't especially attracted to Rodians, which was ironic, because Brooke was the only padawan who seemed to have feelings for him.

Despite his advances, Warren did respect his colleagues, and was thoughtful and considerate (although his kindness could sometimes be hard to tell from his flirting). While he could be overzealous at times, his heart was in the right place.

It was almost an hour, after the over-eager padawans arrived at the hanger, when Master Plo finally arrived in the hangar. Walking with him, was a droid. Most people would incorrectly guess that this was a Protocol Droid, due to its mostly humanoid form, while being confused by its eerily human face, its fingers, more dexterous than most organic life forms, and the second pair of arms, folded against its back. In fact, this was an Architect Droid, a very rare breed, and one who had served the Order longer than any living Jedi, for the singular purpose of assisting in the crafting of lightsabers.

"Good morning padawans." Master Plo greeted, bowing slightly.

The padawans returned his bow, and his greeting.

"Most of you have already met Professor Huyang."

"Hello younglings." The droid casually greeted. Like his face, the droid's voice could easily be mistaken for that of an organic, although it bore a deeper, metallic echo.

Plo Koon was correct. Unlike most padawans, these six had had many dealings with the droid who would one day help them build their lightsabers, before that fateful time came. This was entirely due to Brooke. She had found out about the droid years ago during her studies into Jedi technology, and had tracked him down, to geek out over his workings. While annoyed by Brooke initially, Professor Huyang came to appreciate the padawan's technological skills, and, although he would never admit it, was even slightly endeared by her fascination with him.

"I'm sure it's crossed all of your minds once of twice what kind of lightsabers you might one day wield." Huyang stated, prompting a couple of smirks, "Once you've found your crystals, I'll be happy to help you finally get your answer."

Along with the droid and the Jedi Master, the padawans boarded the ship they had been waiting in front of, The Crucible. The ship was a large, Jedi cruiser, similar in size and capabilities to the freighters smugglers often used. It was large enough to comfortably house the entire group for an extended voyage, and reliable enough to traverse dozens of star systems, before needing maintenance or refueling.

In the heart of the ship, was a spacious room, lined with small drawers, each one filled with lightsaber components. It was here, that Master Plo led the younglings.

"Professor, take the ship into orbit." The Jedi requested. "I shall join you on the bridge, once the padawans have informed me of our destination."

"We have to tell you?" Alyssa asked, in a panic.

"Of course." Plo Koon answered. "Your Kyber Crystals are connected to you, just as you six are connected to each other. Only you, can know where your crystals are to be found."

Plo Koon sat on the ship's floor, and crossed his legs, the padawans followed suit.

"Reach out, through the Force. Find the connection. And Padawan Celeste? Perhaps you could join us, even though you undoubtedly already know where we're going?"

Max smirked in embarrassment. It was true. She had known, since her morning meditation, that there was only one possible destination, of their trip. Luckily, everyone had been too focused on their lightsabers to ask her.

The padawans closed their eyes, and exhaled slowly. Even though Max already knew where it was, she too, tried to feel her connection with her Kyber Crystal, feeling like she had cheated, somewhat.

"I feel… warm." Rachel said, quietly. "And humid!"

"Yeah, the crystals are somewhere with a bunch of trees!" Alyssa added.

There was some excited murmuring. For a bunch of kids who grew up on Coruscant, there wasn't much that was more exciting than visiting a planet teeming with wildlife, where the air could be heavy with dew, instead of smog.

"Whoa… I feel weird." Warren said. "I feel… Oh Force!"

The other padawans opened their eyes to see, to their astonishment, Warren was floating a few inches in the air.

"What's happening to me!?" Warren cried. "Am I TOO connected to the Force!?"

While the other padawans shared Warren's shock and alarm, Plo Koon exhaled loudly. "Padawan Preeva, a moment of sincerity, please, if you can manage one."

The group span around, to see Chloe subtly extending her fingers, and giggling to herself.

Once Chloe had released Warren, and calm had been restored, the group continued to meditate. Together, they saw towering forests, monstrous creatures, and gigantic, glowing mushrooms, the likes of which one might find in a fairy tale. Even though the planet had relatively little contact with the rest of the galaxy, it was fairly well known, for its unique, and spectacular ecosystem.

"Felucia!" Brooke, Alyssa and Rachel said, at roughly the same time.

"I shall inform the professor." Plo Koon announced, with a hint of pride in his voice, as he climbed to his feet, and headed towards the bridge.

Rachel made a high-pitched squealing sound. "I can't believe we're going to Felucia! I read there are trees there, the size of Coruscant skyscrapers!"

"I heard there are bugs, the size of freighters…" Brooke nervously added.

"I can't believe we're gonna be a billion lightyears from the nearest cop, or Jedi Master with a stick up their exhaust port." Chloe announced, cheerfully. "The first thing I'm gonna do with my lightsaber, is carve a gigantic, abstract sculpture out of a tree!"

"I know Master Plo is cooler than Master Windu, but how long as you hoping he'll wait around?" Max asked, teasingly.

Before Chloe could respond, Warren chimed in, with what excited him, about Felucia. "First thing I'm gonna do, is tame a Rancor with the Force, and then ride it!"

"Rancor are from Dathomir, dingus." Chloe taunted. "I would know."

It was true, that Chloe's interest in her mother's home planet, made Dathomir one of the few subjects she could study extensively, without falling asleep.

"Yeah, but smugglers took them all over the galaxy, and a bunch of them populated other planets. They're really popular with gangsters. Some people even think Jabba the Hutt has one."

The flight from Coruscant to Felucia took several hours, not one minute of which wasn't spent by the children, excitedly discussing their upcoming adventure. In the cockpit, Professor Huyang shot more than one exasperated expression at his stoic companion, in regard to the distant chattering.

Finally, the ship lurched slightly, as it exited hyperspace. The six padawans raced to the outer corridors of the ship, to press their faces against the windows. The planet was beautiful. From space, it looked a mossy green, with vast oceans and swirling clouds. There wasn't a puff of smog or an electronic light to be seen, unlike the children's home.

The sight was nothing though, compared to how it felt. Coruscant was teeming with life, of course, but almost all of that life, was made up of people, people of thousands of different species, of course, but people nonetheless. The entire planet had roughly enough plants to fill a small garden, and the planet's animals, were all either pets or vermin. On Felucia, on the other hand, life roamed free. It flourished and bloomed in every shape and form. There were people, and beasts, and insects and plants, and fungi and monsters, and countless combinations of the above. The Force here, was familiar, yet drastically different, and even from orbit, the children could instantly feel it.

Plo Koon and Master Huyang lowered the ship, first through the planet's atmosphere, and then through a dense canopy of leaves, eventually coming to rest, on a mushroom, the size of a small mining platform. The Jedi Master and the younglings reconvened at the back of the ship, as the boarding ramp slowly lowered, letting in a waft of intoxicating, flowery air.

"We are close to the crystal cavern." Plo Koon announced. "Can you feel it, younglings?"

Even as overwhelmed as they were, by how different the Force felt here, the younglings could feel the allure of their Kyber Crystals, as through they were calling out to them, through the jungle. The children shared some nods and verbal confirmation to each other, and the master.

"You'll find the cavern just a few minutes' walk from here. Stay together, and help each other, and I've no doubt I'll see you all soon, with crystals in hand."

"You're not coming with us?" Alyssa asked, nervously.

"Why would I? I already have a lightsaber." Plo Koon reminded her.

Although the others seemed nervous, Chloe almost immediately clapped her hands together. "Awesome! Let's roll out, people!"

With Chloe fearlessly leading the way, the other padawans nervously descended the ship's ramp, and embarked into the forest. They leapt gracefully over the mushrooms and rocks, following the call of their crystals. Max struggled to keep up with Chloe, at the head of the team, while Rachel flew effortlessly at her side. Twice, on their journey, the six of them huddled together, against the bark of a tree, as a leviathan of a rancor stomped past, scaring the group so much, that Warren didn't even say "I told you so" until long after it passed. On another occasion, the group was set upon by a swarm of blood-sucking mites. Sensing the danger, they pooled their powers, standing back to back, generating a dome-shield around them, with the Force, until the swarm gave up and moved on.

True to Master Plo's word, it wasn't long, before the padawans found the end of the trail, left by their crystals, although it wasn't what they were expecting. As the trees thinned, the padawans found a crater they could barely see the other side of, lining it, were hundreds of enormous, spiked teeth, pointing inwards. Reaching high into the air, from the center, were tentacles, taller than any tree they'd seen so far.

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the Galaxy outside their own home knew what this was. It was one of the reasons Felucia was famous. The children had no idea they had landed near it, or that it would somehow be the destination of their search for Kyber crystals, but partially submerged in the dirt, before the children, lurked the galaxy's largest Sarlacc.


	4. The Sarlacc Pit

"Okay…" Chloe said, in the annoyed voice someone might use, when they found out they'd been given bad directions. "Does anyone have a theory as to why the Force, instead of leading us to a cavern full of crystals, led us to a creature that will, if we let it, digest us for a thousand years!?"

"I don't understand, I can sense the crystals, they're here…" Alyssa insisted, to no one's disagreement.

The six of them stood at the lip of the crater, staring at the beak-like mouth in the center. It was incredible, feeling the lifeforce of just one creature, spread out over such a large area. The width of its mouth was nothing, compared to the depth of its body, hidden deep beneath the planet's surface. It wouldn't be a surprise if it had to carefully position itself to avoid searing its lower roots on veins of magma.

After a moment of silent appreciation, the six younglings span around in alarm. There was something new. They'd felt a powerful surge in the Force. It was similar to the sensation they felt, when standing near one of the Jedi Masters, only different. Like the difference between the Force on Felucia and Coruscant, it felt like there was someone powerful in the Force nearby, who wasn't a Jedi…

"Hello?" Warren called out, with no need to confirm that his friends had felt the same thing.

"Show yourself!" Chloe ordered.

From the dense canopy behind them, three figures dropped to the ground. Although they stood on two legs, they were about as human-looking as the Sarlacc behind the children. Their skin was black, while streaked with light blue (or vice versa), their muscular arms ended with flat suction cups, and branched off into a second pair of more slender, three-fingered arms. Their entire heads were obscured by rigid tentacles, pointing upwards, almost resembling jagged crystals. While all three of them towered over the younglings, the one in the middle hunched over, putting its weight on a gnarled tree branch, it used as a cane, after it dropped from the trees.

"Welcome… Jedi…" An echoing voice seemed to come from everywhere, while at the same time, from within the padawan's own heads.

"H… hello?" Max was the first to overcome the shock of the strange means of communication. "We're here for…"

"Kyber crystals…! Kyber crystals…! Kyber crystals…!" The phrase echoed several times, before fading away.

"You've seen padawans come here before." Rachel deduced. "Glad we're in the right place…"

"We guard the ancient one… protect her from desecration… Jedi come, seeking the crystals she guards…"

"Is… that allowed?" Brooke asked, nervously.

"The crystals are for the worthy, she yields to the worthy… and devours the rest…"

The three Felucians raised their right arms, pointing the suction cups on the end at the children. Feeling a surge in the Force, the younglings quickly mirrored the action, in an attempt to defend themselves, but it was like a puff of wind, versus a hurricane. The six of them were blasted clean off their feet, and into the deadly pit behind them. Rachel twisted upright in the air, fanned out her wings and floated in place, then watched, in horror, as her friends hit the dirt, which shifted like fine sand, sending the children sliding rapidly towards an agonizing death.

Rachel swept to the front of the team, like a majestic bird of prey, and grabbed Chloe and Max's hands, gritting her teeth as she strained to pull them both into the air and, with a strenuous swing of her arms, threw them both to the nearest tooth, towering out of the dirt, which they clung to, for dear life.

"Come on! We have to help the others!" Rachel urged.

While Rachel hovered, Chloe and Max reached out with the arms that weren't clinging to the giant tooth, and Warren, Alyssa and Brooke lifted from the shifting dirt, and over to more secure, giant teeth of their own.

"Stay off the dirt, everyone." Rachel instructed, unnecessarily.

"Just like playing The Floor is Lava, in the dining hall." Max compared fondly, but with fear in her voice.

"Okay, I'm gonna climb back up there, and make myself a tentacle necklace…" Chloe spat, looking up to the lip of the crater, where the Felucians had been watching them, since they threw them in.

"Babe, no." Rachel said, calmingly. "They were right. Like it or not, this is where we need to be…"

It was true. Any doubt that they had been in the right place, had vanished, the second they were thrown into the pit. The call of the Kyber crystals was so loud, the padawans felt as though they could simply reach out and pick them up.

"So… where are the crystals, then?" Warren pointed out, confused.

Before they could ponder the puzzle any further, there was a mighty groan from deep within the pit. It rattled the padawans' eardrums and shook the very air. As if prompted by the sound, the monolithic tendrils in the center of the pit began to slowly fold down, towards the children, like tongues, intent on picking food remnants out of teeth, which of course, they were.

With a few cries of alarm, the padawans scattered. Leaping from tooth to tooth, remembering the obstacle courses they'd run at the temple, while training their agility. Of course, falling from them would mean hitting a soft mat, not an agonizing death. Brooke and Warren stayed close to Alyssa, knowing that, if she were to suffer one of her infamous trips now, it would be significantly less funny than normal. Rachel flew after Chloe and Max, as they ran the other way.

"Rachel! Chloe!" Max called out, breathlessly. "I'm about to jump straight up, give me a boost!"

Not knowing what she was planning, but trusting her judgement, Rachel and Chloe focused their power on their friend. Max performed a Force Jump, off one of the sarlacc's teeth, flying upwards, and gathering speed, with her friends' help. By the time she slowed down, Max was almost as high as the towering forest canopy, around the crater. Before gravity claimed her, Max quickly took her data pad from where it was secured to her belt, beneath her robe, and snapped a picture of the beast beneath her.

Guiding her descent with the Force, Max slid along one of the sarlacc's vertical tentacles, and flipped onto another one, which was chasing Chloe along its mouth, and sprinted along its length, to join her friend.

"MAXINE CELESTE!" Rachel shouted angrily. "Did you just risk your life for a photo!?"

Max leapt from the tentacle, swung off Rachel's outstretched hand, and joined Chloe in racing across the row of giant teeth. "A really good one…" She replied, defensively.

"I'm deleting it…" Chloe promised. "Bad Max!"

"Okay guys, focus." Rachel pulled them back on track. "How can a sarlacc be a crystal cavern?"

Chloe squinted her eyes in concentration, before gasping, all the while, continuing the flee from the pursuing tendrils. "Wait! What if that's it? What if the sarlacc swallowed the crystals, and we have to let it eat us!?"

Rachel swept beneath a tooth and over a tentacle that had attempted to cut her off. "Seriously…?" She asked, condescendingly.

"Well what's your genius idea?" Chloe retorted, the stress seeming to be getting to her.

"Those Felucians said that getting devoured was what happened to the unworthy." Max pointed out. "We want it to yield to us, whatever that means."

"Well… maybe the sarlacc has two throats, and the unworthy…" Chloe began.

"It doesn't." Max interrupted.

Chloe pouted angrily. "Seriously, I would _love _a better plan than getting eaten! Anyone?"

Max ran along an incoming tentacle, before flipping onto another, and leaping back onto the row of teeth, all the while sporting a thoughtful expression.

"I think a look into the sarlacc's past might be helpful." She proposed. "Can you guys keep these tentacles off me for a bit?"

"Might be a five padawan job…" Rachel said, cringing at the monstrous leviathan, doubtfully.

The trio circled the crater, towards Alyssa, Brooke and Warren, and caught them up on the plan. While Max sat cross legged on one of the larger teeth, the other five formed a protective circle around her, nervously targeting the palms of their hands on the approaching tendrils.

Max closed her eyes, and felt the creature's energy, getting a renewed appreciation for its massive size. Beneath the soil, it was almost half as tall as the Jedi Temple. Trying not to waste time, being impressed, Max reached out, through time. The sarlacc shrank before her mind's eye. It's tendrils slowly lowering towards the sand, and the pit shallowing as it de-aged. One by one, the rows of teeth lowered into the sand from the outside, going inwards.

Soon, Max found the answer she sought. To her surprise, the pit stopped shrinking, before the sarlacc did. Like water down a drain, the last few tentacles shrivelled into a spacious cavern, full of glittering light, and a moment later, a tiny creature, the size of a training drone, and covered in tentacles, came slithering out, backwards.

"I've got it!"

Max opened her eyes, to see, to her horror, that the sun was being blotted out. The sarlacc tentacles surrounded them from all angles, pressing against an invisible barrier, being strenuously projected by Max's friends. While Chloe, Brooke, Alyssa and Warren surrounded her defensively, Rachel hovered over them all like an angel, her arms and wings outstretched, and her face contorted in painful exertion.

"Guys, the sarlacc isn't the crystal cavern, the sarlacc made its home _in _the crystal cavern!" Max informed them.

"That's great…" Chloe grunted through her teeth. "But you missed the part where it's too late and now we're all gonna die!"

Max loaned her power to maintaining the shield, as she elaborated. "No, those Felucians said the sarlacc would yield to us! I bet that means we can control it, for a little bit! It must be susceptible to Jedi mind tricks!"

"We only have a theoretical understanding of mind tricks…" Alyssa nervously pointed out.

"Plus, we'd have to divert our energies from the shield. We'd have less than four seconds before it kills us!" Brooke added.

"Well, we'd better give it our all then!" Rachel said, assertively, slowly lowering, and landing on the tooth with her friends. "Everyone ready?"

After some unconvincing murmurs, The six of them redirected their hands to the center of the pit, on the other side of the wall of tentacles, which quickly began to constrict. The children felt out for the underwhelming sarlacc equivalent of a mind.

The tentacles had made contact and began to force the padawans closer together, and were probably an instant away from crushing the life out of them, when Max cried, "STOOOP!"

The following millisecond seemed to last an eternity, but eventually, a collective sigh was let out, as the children realised the tentacles had stopped. Slowly, the sarlacc's limbs unwound, and returned to their position, pointing upright, high into the air. Then, the children felt the ground begin to tremble. In the center of the pit, the tip of the sarlacc's head began to emerge, an enormous, bulging mass, covered in grotesque, rounded lumps. Eventually, the head narrowed, leaving a gap between the beast's neck, and the rim of the pit. Sand began to pour into the open space.

"I think that's our cavern." Rachel guessed.

"Everyone ready?" Max asked, offering out her hands.

Chloe took Max's right hand, and Brooke took her left. Joined into a chain, the six padawans leapt into the sand, and slid towards the towering beast, before plunging into the inky, black cave, beneath it.


	5. The Gathering: Max

Max hurtled through inky blackness, spinning wildly in the air. As chaotic as her circumstances were, Max was easily able to sense her imminent death, splattering on the cavern floor, and applied a Force push beneath herself at the last second. She hovered in place for a moment, before gently landing.

The cavern was dark, and when one was friends with a Diathim, darkness became synonymous with solitude. Max instantly noticed that the cavern wasn't illuminated by Rachel's angelic aura.

"Rachel? Chloe?" She called out. "Anyone?"

No one replied, at least, no people did…. The words had barely passed Max's lips, when the cavern was dully lit by light blue crystals, imbedded in the cavern walls, every couple of feet. The cavern might have been massive once, but now it was just a tall, shallow dome, since most of it was filled by the Sarlacc's pulsating abdomen. Max could feel the heat radiating from the beast.

None of the crystals in the wall were Max's, at least, she didn't think they were. The Jedi masters had often assured Max that she would have no more trouble recognising her crystal, than she would her own hand, while it was still attached to her wrist. It was hardly as though it would be that easy, anyway. The crystal would likely be somewhere hard to get to, and somehow symbolic of Max's journey to knighthood. Of course, that made Max wonder if the crystals in the mouth of the cave were fit for any padawan. Perhaps padawans who needed to learn not to overthink things?

Hoping her friends were alright, elsewhere in the cavern, Max embarked down a narrow tunnel, leading away from the Sarlacc. The spaced-out crystals continued to light her way. The caverns twisted and snaked, and were often blocked by the Sarlacc's widespread roots. Max tried to remember her route through the labyrinth. Left, Right, Right, Down, Left, Middle, Down, Left. Her brain hurting, she stopped, realising that if she went any deeper, she wouldn't remember the way back out, even her future vision would only help her so much.

Max took a deep breath and reluctantly cleared her mind, wiping away the crude map she'd been drawing in it. "Trust in the Force, Max…" She told herself.

Heading onwards with a somewhat lighter heart, Max envisioned her lightsaber, her weapon. She frowned. Max was excited to reach this important milestone in her Jedi training, but unlike Chloe, she wasn't that enthusiastic to own a lightsaber. Jedi were keepers of the peace, and that was an ideology she was proud to be a part of, but with all her powers, she wasn't sure she wanted or needed a deadly weapon to help her achieve that peace.

As if the universe sought to contradict Max out of spite (which, thanks to her training, Max knew was entirely possible), something monstrous was approaching, from the direction she had come. Sensing the Force within the lifeform, combined with the impending danger, Max span around, to see a series of lights, dancing erratically towards her, among the stationary glow of the crystals. As it drew closer, Max realised it was an arachnid the size of a speeder, with menacing horns, and luminous blue streaks, along its legs.

Crying out in alarm, Max turned her tail and fled. Hearing the monster's eight feet rapidly stomping after her, Max mentally raced through her Jedi teachings, scouring her mind for something useful. What would master Yoda do? Right now, for example, Max was terrified, and Master Yoda had often lectured her and her fellow padawans on fear.

"Reject fear, you must." He had once told them. "Negative emotions- the path to the dark side, they are. Your fears, you must face."

Face the giant spider? That was easy for him to say. He had a lightsaber and the agility of a pinball. Max had chronic anxiety and the power of premonition, which, with minimal concentration, confirmed that Max would be eaten instantly if she attempted to stare this monster down.

Lost in thought, as she was, Max didn't notice the tunnel veer downwards until her foot sank through thin air, and she fell. Again, she plummeted through the darkness, spinning head over heels, as the tunnel widened into another cavernous chamber, and again, Max spared herself a gravity-induced death with a downwards Force push. This time, though, Max was distracted by the pursuing beast, and still hit the ground hard, painfully bruising her shoulder.

Rolling over onto her back, Max screamed at the sight of the spider dropping towards her, its legs outstretched, ready to pin her to the cavern floor, ready for consumption. Before it landed though, the cavern was illuminated by a dazzling, blue bolt of lightning, which blasted the spider clear of the young padawan. It hit the floor, where it quickly climbed to its feet. Its expression, combined with an angry snarl, expressed its intention to pounce again, before a second bolt of lightning sent it promptly scurrying away, down another twisting tunnel.

Max scrambled up to her hands and knees, and turned to face the source of the lightning. She froze instantly, staring in disbelief at what she saw. Max wasn't alone in the chamber. Lit by the crystals' dull glow, stood a young woman of around eighteen years. Her straight brown hair, was cut neatly, stopping just shy of her shoulders, her eyes were framed by a faint row of freckles, she wore a casual and impractical shirt and trousers, that almost made her look like a smuggler, but despite this, blue arcs of electricity danced over her right hand, revealing her to be the Force lightning (and by extension dark side) user, who had just saved her. Max barely registered any of this though, far more interested in the curious fact that the newcomer… was Max.

"Hey kiddo." The older Max greeted softly, stepping towards her.

Young Max quickly climbed to her feet, and stepped back, sizing her doppelganger up, before replying. "I've heard of this…" She said. "In places where the Force is this strong, Jedi can have glimpses of their futures."

"Well, one of their futures." Adult Max elaborated. "You understand that better than most."

"So… are we supposed to fight, or something?" Max asked, nervously. In most of the stories she'd read, Jedi faced their darkest selves, the version of them that turned to the dark side and became a Sith. The two would often then fight for superiority.

"Well, neither of us have a weapon, and I'm not really one for fist fights." Adult Max replied, coolly. She walked past Max, in the direction the spider had run. "Come on, walk with me."

Young Max hesitantly fell into step with her older self, the top of her head just barely reached the taller Max's elbow.

"Are you… a Sith Lord?" She nervously asked.

"I think the girl Sith are called Sith Ladies." Adult Max corrected. "Not that you'd know. Could that religion be more of a sausage fest?" She smirked and rolled her eyes, then noticed her child self, looking up at her, curiously. "No, I'm not…"

"But you used Force Lightning…"

"Yeah, I guess I did…"

The unusual pair came across another vertical tunnel. Young Max frowned, nervous about her ability to walk away from another fall, with the arm she'd fallen on, last time, still throbbing angrily.

"I got ya, kid." Older Max said, noticing her trepidation.

Before Young Max could protest, her adult self wrapped an arm around her waist, hoisted her off her feet, and leapt down the tunnel. Even encumbered, the older Max gracefully darted between the walls of the tunnel, then leapt across the tips of stalagmites, as it levelled out, with little regard for gravity. Young Max was surprised. She'd never imagined she would have so much confidence, least of all in her Force powers. She was almost in adoration of her older self, but she was still waiting for the ominous twist, in which Old Max tried to murder her, or turn her to the Dark Side.

"So, if you're not a Sith… does that mean you're a Jedi?" Young Max asked, uncertainly, after she was let down. Her older self wasn't dressed like a Jedi, plus she had no lightsaber, and wielded the powers of the Dark Side.

"Come on kid… really?" Old Max said, with a condescending smile. She grabbed the top of Max's head and gently shook it, before Max pushed her away. "I know you've still got the Jedi brainwashing rattling around in there, but you already know that there's more to the Force than the Sith and the Jedi. Your Felucian friends up there, for example."

"I'm not brainwashed…" Max said, defensively.

"I love ya, squirt, but yes you are. Why do you think the Jedi take people away from their parents as babies? Why not just open their doors to anyone who wants to worship the will of the Force? You know, like almost any other religion?"

"It takes a lifetime of training to… properly master…" Young Max trailed off, under her older self's withering stare. She knew full well, that, in the rare cases of older children, or even adults joining the order, rudimentary Force powers could be achieved in as soon as a few short months. "Okay, enlighten me… What have I been brainwashed to believe?"

"That the Jedi are the natural and 'good' will of the Force, personified. That the Jedi are peacekeepers who care about others. That the Jedi wouldn't burn the lower levels of Coruscant to the ground, sooner than get a senator's robe dirty. Listen Max, I don't expect you to walk out of here and run for the stars, and forge your own path, like I did, but take some wisdom from this cave, along with your Kyber crystal, okay? The Jedi. Are. Selfish."

They walked in silence for a few moments, as Old Max's words rang in Young Max's ears. Young Max remembered all the times she'd had doubts about the Jedi. Each time Chloe was punished for expressing herself, Max had shared a part of her friend's resentment. Then there was the fact that one could barely take ten steps from their glittering palace of a temple, without passing a homeless person.

"I still don't understand what you are, if you're not a Jedi, or a Sith." Max eventually said.

"You still don't get it…" Older Max sighed. She placed a hand on her younger self's shoulder, prompting her to stop, before sitting down, cross-legged, on the tunnel floor. Young Max copied, facing her. "What you can feel in this place- The Force within the Sarlacc and your friends, and in this beautiful planet, that's real. The Light Side and the Dark Side, that's real. Your Kyber crystal, and the way it strengthens your connection to the Force, that's real too. But the Jedi, their temples, and lightsabers, and rules? That's just people, imposing their will on others, forcing other people to fall in line or be cast out, enforcing totalitarianism and calling it peace. Everyone is connected to the Force, and anyone can wield its powers."

"If my crystal is something 'real' that I should have, then why don't you have it?" Max challenged. "You said you don't have a lightsaber."

Older Max dropped her hand into one of her shirt pockets, held it in front of Max, and opened her fingers. A tiny, blue crystal floated above her palm.

"A lightsaber is good for blocking blaster bolts and killing people, and you don't need a saber to block blaster bolts. It's the weapon of an enforcer. You wanted to know what I am, Max?"

Young Max nodded.

"I'm a photographer."

That wasn't anything like what Max was expecting, but of course, it was true. The Jedi had been nothing but a hinderance in Max's artistic expression. She'd spent her life, sneaking around behind her masters' backs, to take and archive photographs. Her two lives clashed with each other, she'd always worried that one would eventually give, and as little as she liked to admit it, photography seemed like the most likely candidate.

While Young Max frowned sadly, at the thought, her older self reached into a bulky pouch, strapped to her hip, and produced a strange device. It was a cube, made up of crudely forged together components, not all of which were covered by its erratically placed casing. Protruding from it, was a large, circular lens. Old Max extended a cylindrical component from the top of the device, which Young Max recognised as a lightsaber focusing chamber, and inserted the crystal.

Old Max shuffled across the dirt and sat next to Young Max, and threw her arm over her shoulder, which young Max didn't particularly mind. Then, Old Max pointed the device's lens at the two of them and pressed a button on top, producing a bright flash. When Max finished blinking the spots out of her eyes, she was astonished to see the image the device had captured, floated above her older self's palm, outlined by blue flames.

Old Max closed her hand, and the image vanished, and with her other hand, she placed her Kyber crystal in Max's. "The Force is whatever you make of it, Mini Me."

Max looked at the crystal in confusion. "Isn't giving me this, a paradox?"

"It would be, if I were really here…"

Max looked down at the crystal in her hand, then back up at the empty tunnel. She sighed again, climbed to her feet, and began looking for a way back to the surface.


	6. The Gathering: Rachel

Rachel had barely slid into the pit, when she gently extended her wings. Of course, she wouldn't be able to hold all five of her friends in the air, but she would at least slow their descent. To her surprise, though, she immediately hovered in place, with no resistance, and a moment later, her heart sank, as she realised she was no longer holding Chloe and Warren's hands.

"Chloe? Warren?" Rachel called, as she shot downwards, along the Sarlacc's body. Her wings fanned out, flooding the chamber with soft, white light. "Anyone?"

"Uuugh… Rachel?" Chloe's distressed voice called out.

Rachel flew towards the source. To find Chloe laying face down on cavern floor, her robe splayed out around her.

"Chloe!? Sweetie, are you okay?" Rachel asked, in a panic.

Chloe carefully rolled over and sat upright, wincing several times in the process. "I think my leg is a little messed up."

Rachel frowned sympathetically, but knew better than to directly offer help to her headstrong friend. "How's your Force Healing coming along?" She asked, delicately.

Chloe smiled appreciatively. "Little help?"

The two of them aimed their palms at Chloe's injured leg. They could feel the Force flowing through her body, and how her injury was affecting it. With some minor manipulation, they corrected the flow, and a moment later, Chloe's bones and muscles realigned themselves, prompting a fleeting gasp of pain.

"Thanks." Chloe smiled, offering her hand to Rachel and allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. "Where's everyone else?"

"We must have gotten separated…"

"What, during our fall from the top of this chamber?" Chloe asked, sceptically.

The two of them looked up, just in time to see the last slither of sunlight vanish, as the sarlacc lowered back into the cave, leaving the crystals, and Rachel's glowing aura as illumination.

"The Force manipulates events all around the galaxy. That's especially true in focal points like this…" Rachel said, in a teacher-like voice.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning things might get weird, down here. The cave must have separated us, to… test us, or whatever… individually."

Rachel and Chloe began heading deeper into the cave.

"So how come we're still together?" Chloe posed.

Rachel considered the question. While she was connected to all five of her friends through the Force, Chloe and Max were different. She adored them both far more than any Jedi was supposed to care about anyone. Max was like a sister to her, and Chloe… Rachel's cheeks turned light pink, and her aura followed suit. It wasn't the first time Rachel had thought of Chloe as being more than a friend. Jedi weren't celibate, but romantic feelings were strictly forbidden, and even Rachel, with her youth and naivety, understood why. If Rachel were to entertain her feelings for Chloe, and was lucky enough to have her feelings reciprocated, then a relationship would bloom, leading to their connection growing all the stronger, and the closer they got, the worse Rachel would feel, should anything bad happen to Chloe. Such grief and trauma were textbook examples of what drove good Jedi to the Dark Side.

"Rachel?" Chloe emphasised her question, after a few seconds of walking, snapping Rachel out of remorseful internal monologue.

"Oh, erm… I dunno. I guess the cavern just has challenges we have to face together." Rachel said, with a nervous laugh.

It seemed as much as Rachel tried to supress her feelings for Chloe, the cave knew they were there, and it felt like it was calling her out.

"So, are you excited to finally get your lightsaber?" Rachel asked, with a grin.

"Heck yeah!" Chloe replied. "Man, I can't wait for the next time a cop tries to bust me for vandalism, only for me to go all Jedi on their asses!"

"Come on Chloe, you really think you'll get away with using your lightsaber against cops?" Rachel gently criticised.

"Dude, I don't care if I get away with it! We're talking about Coruscant cops here, some of the biggest crooks in the galaxy, who aren't Hutts."

Rachel sighed, adoring Chloe's spirit, and not wanting to dampen it, but not wanted her expelled from the Jedi order, either. "I know, Chloe, but I don't wanna know what'll happen if the council have to bail you out of jail. I mean, they might just not!"

Rachel braced herself for Chloe's dejected and frustrated admission that Rachel was right, but it didn't come.

"Rachel, I know I'm just a kid, but Coruscant is a mess, and I'm gonna do what I can to clean it up. If the council won't help me… well… I've still got you…"

Rachel smiled appreciatively, and took Chloe's hand. "Always."

The tunnel veered downwards. Chloe experimentally kicked a pebble over the edge, and it clattered against the edges of the tunnel for several seconds, before the sound faded away. The girls didn't hear it hit the bottom. Chloe took Rachel's other hand, and hung beneath her, as the Diathim floated gently down the width of the rocky shaft.

Even though Chloe's hands clutched Rachel's tightly, Rachel still felt Chloe's muscles tense, uncomfortably, after several seconds of floating down.

"Hey Rachel…?"

"Yeah?"

"I was kinda kidding about you breaking me out of jail… but seriously, I'm so glad you've always got my back."

"Wh… what?" Rachel laughed, not used to Chloe being so sincere. "Where's this coming from?"

"I dunno… I guess I just feel like I should be more mature, now that we're gonna be real, saber-having padawans, and it's making me realise that I don't always appreciate how lucky I am to have you in my life. I don't know what I'd do if I had to live under the Jedi's rules, without you… I don't even know if I'd still have the guts to be a rebel, and an artist."

"What about Max?" Rachel asked, curiously, her heart thumping louder, in anticipation.

"Come on dude, I love Max." Chloe replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the galaxy. "But you… you're… different."

Chloe's feet came to a rest, as the tunnel levelled out. Rachel, with Chloe's words swarming around her brain like a flock of mynocks, didn't notice, and continued her descent, collapsing gracelessly on top of Chloe, and causing her to trip and fall, in her attempt to catch Rachel. Chloe lay on her back, on the cavern floor, while Rachel knelt over her, her long, silver hair (as Chloe perceived it) spilled over her shoulder, brushing the side of Chloe's face. It was like a scene from a movie.

"Different?" Rachel breathed.

Chloe sat up, and Rachel knelt on the cavern floor, next to her. "Rachel, you're not just my biggest fan, or my backup against the masters, or even just a friend… we could never just be friends…"

"Why not?" Rachel almost whispered.

Chloe placed a hand lovingly on Rachel's cheek. "Because… I think I love you, Rachel."

Rachel's heart didn't soar. She didn't throw her arms around Chloe and profess her own feelings. She only smiled slightly and nodded, a single tear rolled from her eye. However, it wasn't the looming disapproval of the Jedi, that soured the moment Rachel had spent so long dreaming of. Before she could reveal what it was, though, both girls looked sharply upwards, responding to a sense of impending danger, combined with a rapid set of footprints.

Coming quickly down the tunnel towards them, were a series of erratically dancing lights which, when they entered the light of Rachel's aura, revealed themselves to be two of the gigantic, horned spiders that had accosted Max.

"RUN!" Chloe cried, grabbing Rachel's hand and racing down the tunnel.

Rachel swept through the air, beside Chloe, as the latter sprinted through the cave, faster than any non-Force adept could, leaping over chasms and rocks, as though she had spent her whole life in the tunnel. For a while, it seemed as though they'd be safe, as the pursuing predators gradually fell behind, but then, disaster struck. Ahead of them, another ominous set of lights danced, before a third spider lunged out of the shadows, from ahead of them.

"Turn around!" Chloe ordered.

Rachel did, and, back-to-back, the two padawans cast a barrier with the Force, which blocked the tunnel on either side of them. They ground their teeth in exertion, as the enormous arachnids ran their plentiful feet over the shields, attempting to force their way through.

"So…" Chloe grunted. "Two on your side, one on mine… think I can do that math…"

"I'll push mine back, you stun yours and we'll run your way?" Rachel guessed Chloe's plan.

"On three… one… two… three!"

Rachel heaved with all her might, forcing the two monsters sliding back, their feet dragging through the dirt. Behind her, she heard the slam of flesh hitting rocks. Rachel span around, to see Chloe's spider lying in a dishevelled heap, but rapidly climbing to its feet. The two children attempted to race past it before it recovered, but the creature was barely incapacitated for a moment.

Chloe had sprinted three steps, when the spider lunged forwards and thrust one of its feet downwards, brutally pinning Chloe to the cavern floor. Its jaws spread outwards revealing dozens of ferocious teeth. Rachel only had time to squeeze her eyes shut and cry out in protest, as they were thrust towards her captured friend.

"NOOO!" Rachel shrieked, as she heard Chloe's agonised screams.

Keeping her eyes shut tight, Rachel scrambled backwards and cocooned herself in a tiny force field. Dread consumed her, throbbing inside her, spreading further with each beat of her heart. The Force felt… different, more powerful, but also more wild, and dangerous. Rachel had never touched on the Dark Side before, but didn't need to, to know that she was close to doing so now. She felt like she was on a precipice, overlooking a void.

"This isn't real!" Rachel shouted to herself, over Chloe's screams, wording the sad epiphany she'd made, after Chloe confessed her feelings. "I love Chloe, but she has her flaws. She's insincere and awkward with her feelings, and as little as she likes to admit it, she's always held back by the inhibitions the Jedi taught her. I wish she was more free, and felt more comfortable expressing herself… but I'm worried about what it will mean for her career if she does… The cave is showing me what I want from Chloe… not who she really is…"

As Rachel spoke, Chloe's screams, combined with the gnashing of spider teeth, slowly faded away, but Rachel kept her eyes closed. She felt her heartrate slow down, and the ominous lure of the Dark Side slowly concede. Even now, she was, at most, 90% certain her theory was correct. She dreaded to think what would happen to her if she opened her eyes, to see Chloe's ravished corpse. Although she had resisted the Dark Side for now, it may as well have been a step back, before a running jump, if her fears were confirmed.

Rachel built herself up to opening her eyes. "One… two… three!"

Chloe, and the spiders were gone. Rachel gave a brief, half-hearted laugh, before tears started to pour from her eyes. She had been almost certain that Chloe was just a vision, and yet she had still almost lost herself, when she died. Today it was fake, but one day, Chloe would die for real… How could Rachel let herself get closer to Chloe, after a demonstration like this?

Rachel was about to lift her hand, to wipe her eyes, when she noticed her fist was clenched around something. Opening her hand, she wasn't surprised to see a tiny, blue crystal.

"Dick move, cave…" She whispered, wiping her tears with her other hand.


	7. The Gathering: Chloe

Chloe fell into the cavern, past the sarlacc's mouth, flipping over acrobatically, in the air, and landing nimbly on her feet, bending her knees on impact with the cavern floor. She immediately noticed that, somehow without her knowledge, she had let go of Rachel and Max's hands, and that they, along with the rest of their friends, were nowhere to be seen. She immediately called Force shenanigans, much quicker than Rachel and Max did.

"Okay…" Chloe quietly reacted to the strange phenomenon, taking in the eerie glow of the kyber crystals, all around her. "Let's go crystal hunting…"

Chloe began her descent into the twisting caverns. Unlike Max, she didn't bother to chart a course. She was famously good at 'winging it', which sounded reckless and irresponsible, coming from the young Dathomirian, but was functionally no different from when adult Jedi claimed to 'trust in the Force'.

It wasn't long, before Chloe caught sight of the caverns' monstrous, eight-legged inhabitants. Sensing them coming, she had leapt silently up to the cavern's ceiling, where she darted between the hanging stalactites, as though she were a spider, herself, effortlessly vanishing from sight, as several of the monsters went scuttling past.

Eventually, Chloe found the cavern stretch outwards into a chamber so massive, it could almost fit a republic star destroyer. She could barely see the glittering kyber crystals, on the other side. Although she was very high up, she could make out, glistening in the crystal light, a strand of spider's thread, stretching out, from nearby, to the centre of the chamber, vanishing into the darkness, after a few feet.

Chloe acrobatically flipped forwards, landing on the thread, which bounced and rippled beneath her. She held her arms out for balance, and began walking to the centre of the chamber, as though she was balancing along some of the temple handrails for fun, except there was no risk of getting yelled at by a Jedi, just eaten by a giant spider…

As Chloe got deeper into the chamber, she began to see more threads, either also heading into the centre of the chamber, or perpendicular, adjoining the longer threads. As Chloe had suspected from the beginning, the chamber was home to a gigantic web. Of course, most web-spinning species were extremely sensitive to vibrations on their webs, which was their purpose- to alert their owners that food had been ensnared. Chloe trod as lightly as she was able, which wasn't much of an improvement, as the thread bounced beneath her toes, sending out tell-tale tremors.

As much fun as it was, playing acrobat, the diminutive, often overshadowed voice of reason, in Chloe's brain, strongly advised she drop to the chamber floor, and stop advertising her presence. She was about to yield, and do just that, when she was startled by a voice.

"H… hello? Is someone there?" A frightened, adult, male voice called out.

Chloe span around to its source. She was anxious about remaining on the web, but not as anxious, as she would feel guilty, if she left the stranger to his fate. Chloe leapt from thread to thread, with the confidence of the spider who'd span the web, and soon found the distressed captive. Stuck to the web, with several strands binding his arms and legs to his sides, was a blue twi'lek.

The twi'lek were a hairless, humanoid race, distinguished by their lekku (or head-tails), the pair of tentacles emerging from the back of their heads, reaching just below their shoulders. Female twi'leks ticked most of the boxes for most species' beauty standards, making them popular dancers or slaves, male twi'leks, with their stocky builds and unsightly bumps, beneath their lekku, not so much.

"Hey… hey you…!" The twi'lek whispered, as he saw Chloe approaching. "Help me!"

Chloe slowed down, climbing over the web of her hands and feet, and carefully inspected the man, as though she were one of the spiders, weighing him out, as an option for an afternoon snack.

"Nah…" Chloe eventually decided. "I'm not buying it."

"Buying it?" The twi'lek replied, in distress. "What are you talking about?"

"So… you're some dude, looking like you've been down here for a few hours…" she ran her finger along the man's leather jacket, inspecting it for dirt. "Who's just stumbled into a cavern under a sarlacc, that's only accessible to Jedi? I don't think so."

"What does it matter how likely it is!?" He whispered angrily. "I'm here, aren't I? Cut me loose!"

"Are you here though?" Chloe challenged. "I've heard some weird things can happen in these places. I already got separated from my friends. I bet you're some kind of test, the cave is throwing at me. No way are you real…"

"Real or not, I'm gonna die if you don't save me, please!" The man begged.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Fine, but I want it on record, that I'm not falling for this. I'm only helping you because there's like a one percent chance that you're actually some idiot who bumbled in here."

The twi'lek sighed in relief. "So, you got a knife in that robe?"

"Really dude? You've noticed the robe, but you figure a knife is my weapon of choice?"

It was the twi'lek's turn to roll his eyes. "I know enough about how Jedi laser swords work, to know that a kid Jedi would probably come to a kyber crystal cavern, because they don't have one yet."

Chloe lifted her eyebrows suggestively. "Well, I won't tell if you don't…"

From under Chloe's robes, she produced a thin, narrow lightsaber hilt. She had snuck off and assembled it, during the flight from Coruscant. It wasn't the double-ended saber she knew she was destined to wield, but a discrete one she had made, out of an over-eagerness to see her crystal in action, the moment she found it.

"Haven't found my crystal yet, but I'm sure some future padawan won't mind me borrowing theirs."

Chloe reached out her hand, and focused as hard as she could. The nearest cavern wall, and the crystal imbedded in it, were still significantly far away. It took several seconds of Chloe calling on the Force to the best of her abilities, before a crystal tore free of the rock, and flew at Chloe like a bullet, ducking and weaving between threads of the spider web, before flying into her waiting hand.

"Oh god, did you feel that?" The man whispered, in a panic.

Just like the spiders could, Chloe could feel vibrations running through the web. Something besides the two of them, was climbing the web, sending tremors their way, most likely something hungry….

Chloe took a deep breath. "There is no emotion, there is peace… There is no chaos, there is harmony..." She told herself, as she opened a compartment on her lightsaber. Despite her penchant for breaking the Jedi rules, she couldn't deny that the Jedi Code had some helpful advice, especially when it came to navigating high-stress situations.

Using the Force, Chloe carefully levitated her 'borrowed' crystal into the lightsaber, and attempted to turn it on, producing nothing more than a small shower of purple sparks.

"Uhhh, lil Jedi!?" The twi'lek anxiously prompted, as the vibrations got more intense.

"Hold on!" Chloe spat.

She fanned her hands out, and the lightsaber floated in the air, before disassembling into its base components, which Chloe studied, carefully, before slapping her own head in frustration.

"Crystal chamber goes BETWEEN the cycling field energiser and the power cell, duh!"

The pieces rearranged themselves. The click, announcing their reassembly, had barely sounded, when Chloe seized he hilt, manifested a gleaming, purple blade, and span around, slashing through the web at her feet, tearing a chasm, into which a giant spider fell, moments before devouring the young Jedi. Chloe turned around and threw the blade. It span through the air, cleaving off another spider's horn, and two of its legs, before boomeranging back into Chloe's hand, sending the predator fleeing, in distress. As a finale, Chloe slashed through the twi'lek's bonds, sending him plummeting from the web to the cavern floor, where he would have met his end, if Chloe hadn't leapt after him, and cushioned both of their falls with a Force push, allowing them to land gently, by the splattered remains of the first spider.

"You're pretty amazing, kid." The twi'lek said, breathlessly.

"Yeah, I know." Chloe smiled, as she ran for the nearest tunnel, leading away from the sinister web.

The two ran for several minutes, before they were comfortable that they were free of the macabre feeding ground. Taking a moment to catch their breath, Chloe finally took a good look at her new companion. At a guess, she put him in his late twenties or early thirties, he had a weary look in his eyes, that Chloe saw a lot, in Coruscant's slums. It was the look of someone who'd got a lot of crap from the galaxy, and had learnt to give it back. His casual, leather jacket said he meant business, but also suggested he wasn't affiliated with any stuffy company or military, like the Republic. Most interesting of all, though, was that he was missing his left arm. It ended, just after the shoulder, and his jacket sleeve was shredded and torn, implying it had happened recently, although there wasn't a drop of blood in sight.

"So… I guess I'll humour you. What are you doing down here?" Chloe asked.

"Humour me? You still don't think I'm real?"

"No. Answer the question."

The Twi'lek opened his mouth, but froze, then frowned in confusion. "Okay, admittedly, I'm not sure how I got here, which is strange."

Chloe nodded, with a knowing smirk. "Uh huh."

"But listen, I feel like I am supposed to be here… I can't explain it, but I feel like I'm missing something… and… it's down here?" He looked at Chloe, who was looking at his arm stump, wearing an awkward expression. "Not my arm…" he sighed.

"Well, Jedi prophesies and messages are usually pretty vague like that. So all I know, is that somewhere out there, there's a twi'lek who's looking for something, and somehow, that has something to do with me." Chloe said, with a confused frown. "Seriously, why are you in my crystal quest? Have we met?"

"I don't make a habit of associating with Jedi…"

"Why not?"

"I had a bad experience with one once."

"What happened?" Chloe asked, tactlessly.

"Do you know what Cho Mai is?"

"Yeah, it's the Jedi practice of cutting off someone's…" she looked again, at the stump of the twi'lek's arm. "Oh…"

"Yeah, big, noble Jedi…" The twi'lek said, sarcastically. "They'll cut off your arm to neutralise you, because killing would be evil! Less painful is what it would have been…"

"Cho Mai is usually only used on Dark Jedi or other lightsaber users. Why would a Jedi need to dismember a normie like you?" Chloe asked.

"Maybe because I was persistent. They were trying to…" He breathed out loudly through his nose. "They were trying to royally screw me over…"

"Dude, I know I am a Jedi, but don't worry, I've got my beef with the Jedi too… dish." Chloe ordered.

"They were trying to take my baby sister. The Jedi always indoctrinate people as babies, but apparently, when it comes to street rats, they're fine with taking those babies at the end of a lightsaber."

"Korriban…" Chloe swore quietly. "Dude, that's messed up… Guess they got lucky with me, my stepbrother basically sold me to the Jedi."

The twi'lek took his turn, forgoing tact. "What about your parents?"

"Killed by a mugger, two months before."

Chloe kept walking through the tunnel, without noticing that the twi'lek had stopped.

"Wait… you're not… Dathomirian, are you?" He whispered.

"Yeah, why?" Chloe asked, in confusion.

The twi'lek's eyes widened in astonishment, and a tear welled up, beneath one. "Chloe!?"

Realisation hit Chloe like a train. "Xaren!?" She cried.

Chloe's head was in turmoil. Essentially all she knew about her step-brother was his name and species, and the story of how he surrendered her to the Jedi, which she now knew to be false. Like most Jedi, she had no concept of family, but, like most Jedi, this was only because she had never had one. She was familiar with the concept, of course, and while she loved Max and Rachel like family, a part of her had always wondered what it would have been like, to grow up with her older brother.

Chloe stepped towards Xaren, not knowing if she was going for a hug or not, although the longing look in her brother's eyes seemed to suggest it was on the table. As Chloe drew closer, though, the inevitable happened, Xaren slowly began to fade away, vanishing with a wisp of blue smoke.

Chloe stopped in her tracks, slowly sank to her knees, and pursed her lips in anger. Like Rachel, she felt the Force change within her, like the boiling ingredients of a soup. Unlike Rachel, Chloe was used to emotional outbursts. She had had personal sessions with Master Qui-Gon, in which she'd been taught to fear the Dark Side, and manage her feelings, before she lost herself. Dirt and pebbles began to rain from the tunnel ceiling and the cavern trembled slightly. Before Chloe brought the whole cave collapsing down on her, she forced herself to acknowledge that her vision mightn't have been a direct message from her brother, just a manifestation of her own suspicions. This was something she'd definitely have to look into, but for the time being, it wasn't worth losing herself over...

Chloe ejected the crystal from her lightsaber, and made to throw the crystal away, in anger. Just as she was about to though, she felt something resonating from the crystal, through her arm and into the core of her being. She opened her palm and looked at the crystal. Purple. Of course, indicative of Jedi who wielded the Light Side and the Dark Side ferociously in battle. What else should Chloe expect?

Holding the crystal tightly, Chloe threw the lightsaber, sending it clattering loudly off the rocks, before turning around and making her way back to the surface.


	8. The Journey Home

The journey back to the Crucible was a somewhat sombre affair for Rachel, Chloe and Max. The group had reconvened in the chamber beneath the Sarlacc's mouth, and easily eased it from the pit, allowing their escape. On the way back, Warren, Brooke and Alyssa had been chatting animatedly about what they'd seen in the cave, evidently their visions and tests had been more informative and exciting, and less foreboding than the three girls'. Rachel, Chloe and Max confirmed their sour moods to each other with some silent glances, but weren't comfortable discussing it, in front of their other friends, especially when they were in such chipper moods.

Master Plo and Professor Huyang were waiting at the Crucible's boarding ramp, when the padawans gracefully leapt onto the giant fungus it was parked on.

"Welcome back, padawans." The Jedi Master greeted, calmly. "I sense you were all successful."

The children proudly produced their crystals. Alyssa and Brooke both had green crystals, like Max, while Warren's crystal was yellow.

The Architect droid leaned forwards, and a lens slid into place, over one of his eyes. "A yellow AND a purple crystal, in one gathering? How very uncommon…" He stood up straight and retracted the lens. "At any rate, as happy as you may be with your crystals, perhaps you'll like them even more, once we give them life?"

Huyang gestured into the ship, and the six children raced inside, heading to the central chamber, where they would construct their lightsabers.

"Now, a lightsaber is not something to construct lightly." Huyang lectured, as he strolled into the chamber at a more leisurely rate. "If any of you have ever held another Jedi's saber, then you no doubt sensed an uncertainty, as though you could feel, that that weapon did not belong to you. Conversely, your own lightsabers will feel familiar, like something you were always meant to have, or even, as many Jedi put it, something you were missing."

Max couldn't help but compare Huyang's words to her older self's teachings. Maybe she had always been missing her crystal, and maybe her crystal needed technological augmentations to realise its potential, but was that as a weapon, or as a camera?

"Let's start with you, Miss Preeva." Huyang offered, looming over Chloe. "I'd like you to hold out your hand… or, well, hands… if you remain certain that the double-bladed saber is your destiny." The droid sounded sceptical. "And tell me what kind of lightsaber you can see yourself wielding."

Chloe was frowning, and avoiding eye contact with Master Plo. Her brother's words rang in her ears. Nevertheless, she obediently held her hands in front of her, as through gripping the hilt of a double-bladed lightsaber.

"Although Jedi don't have roots beyond the order, many Jedi have a material connection with their home planet, something often expressed through the materials that make up their lightsaber. Perhaps a Dathomirian Rancor's bones will…"

Chloe interrupted. Huyang's talk of roots had exacerbated her distress. Her heart pounded painfully against her chest. Rancor bones weren't going to cut it. Chloe may have been born on Dathomir, but her true home was Coruscant.

"Scrap metal." Chloe said, shortly. "I want to build the casing myself."

Chloe wasn't just being stubborn. Just as a Jedi, building her lightsaber should, she was picturing her blade, reaching out, through the Force, to find the lightsaber that would be hers. As an artist, and a craftsman, she could never use a blade she hadn't forged from the ground up, herself.

"Interesting…" Huyang commented, quietly. "Well, you'll find the damaged casings in the far cabinet over there, and the tools you'll need to reshape them on the workbench."

After she'd retrieved what she needed, the room was illuminated by brief sparks, as Chloe tore damaged lightsaber casings to shreds, and soldered them back together, in a carefully designed shape. Meanwhile. Huyang went through the same exercise with the other padawans, all of whom were happy to construct their lightsabers with the casings and parts, the architect droid provided.

Like her preferred training saber, Max's hilt resembled that of a real sword. There was a large, glass crystal at the base, a sturdy, leather grip, and an ornate, metal cross guard, which, unlike a real sword, provided no function in a duel, as another lightsaber would cleave right through them.

Rachel's hilt was more conservative, but still beautiful, like her. The casing was metallic, but with glass plating, which rippled across its surface like water.

By the time Chloe had finished her casing, the other padawans had already assembled and activated their blades, and were sparring in pairs. Master Plo had joined in, due to there being an odd number, in Chloe's absence.

Chloe's hilt was made up of spiralling strips of metal, zigzagging outwards with lots of jagged edges. At the ends, the strips bent outwards, before pointing in again, like rigid, robotic hands. If it was an art piece (which, arguably it was) then Max would have guessed it conveyed anger and stubbornness. In other words, it was perfect for Chloe.

Although it was unconventional, and the droid lacked the emotional capacity to appreciate art, Huyang was pleased with Chloe's work, and it didn't take her long to correctly assemble the lightsaber's inner components. Activating it, the weapon produced two purple blades, putting a slight smile on Chloe's face, for the first time since she left the cavern.

The group continued to practice their duelling, with Master Plo offering guidance, and Professor Huyang occasionally suggesting tweaks to be made to the padawans' lightsabers, for optimal efficiency. The sun was shining minimally through the dense woodland, when Plo Koon and Huyang returned to the cockpit, to take the ship back to the Jedi temple. Sufficiently worn out from their adventures, and training, Warren, Brooke and Alyssa were content to sit and chat. Chloe took the opportunity to lead Rachel and Max into one of the Crucible's side rooms- a small storage chamber, to talk to them about what she had seen.

"So… Max…" Chloe awkwardly began, fumbling with her hands. "You're read up on the crystal caverns, and Jedi vision quests, and all that junk, right?"

"Sure, why?" Max asked. "Did you… see something down there?"

That was a silly question, Max admitted to herself. Of course she had. What Max really meant, was did Chloe see something that had upset her. Max feared that being that up front would only make Chloe defensive, though.

"Yeah, I… Look, I just need to know if what we saw down there was real. You know? Like, did the Force make a copy of… this other person… with their personality and memories and everything, or did it just make a version of them, pulled from my own head?" Chloe asked, her voice trembling slightly, as her trauma resurfaced.

"Well… a lot of Master Jedi would say that reality is whatever you make of it…" Max began uncertainly.

"Bantha crap, Max!" Chloe spat. "I… learnt some things down there, and they're either true, of they're not!"

"Right, I'm sorry." Max quickly retracted her unhelpful input. "Honestly, I've been wondering the same thing. I found out some interesting stuff down there too…"

"Well, what I saw definitely came from inside my head." Rachel offered. "That's how I figured out it wasn't real."

"Really?" Chloe asked, hopefully. "What did you see?"

Rachel panicked immediately, fearing she'd already said too much. Flawlessly, though, she adapted the truth and slid into her cover story. "We were all together, fighting off these giant spiders. I tried to take all the responsibility and hold them off myself, but I had to learn to trust in you guys more. I realised it wasn't real, because in real life, I'd never be able to convince you dummies to save yourselves and leave me."

Chloe and Max smiled warmly, touched by Rachel's convincing lie. They each squeezed one of her hands, gratefully.

"So, what did you see, Chloe?" Rachel asked, delicately.

Chloe sighed, then paused. As soon as she'd overcome the shock of meaning her brother, she'd known that she'd have to share the experience with her friends. It was far too big to deal with herself, both emotionally speaking, and regarding what she'd have to do to verify the information.

"I saw my brother…" Chloe eventually said.

"Your step brother?" Max clarified.

"Yeah… You know how the Jedi always said he just sold me to them?"

"Yeah?" Rachel replied. "That always really upset you… Did you have to make peace with him, or something?"

"No…" Chloe breathed. "He told me, that the Jedi lied to me, through their teeth, and that they straight up kidnapped me! Even cut his arm off, when he tried to fight them!"

Hushed silence ensured, for several seconds, as Rachel and Max processed the bombshell.

"The Jedi wouldn't… would they do that…?" Max asked, weakly. "When I was down there, I saw a version of myself from the future, and she pointed out a bunch of really shady stuff, the Jedi do…"

"It's a big galaxy, but even so, there can't be that many parents who will just hand their kids over to the Jedi, willingly…" Rachel conceded.

Chloe exhaled slowly, with her eyes closed. When she opened them, they burnt with a resolve that almost made Max jump.

"I'm going to find out what really happened." She promised. "I love you guys, and I'm not gonna pressure you into helping me. I can do it alone."

"Do what…?" Rachel asked, warily.

"I'm going to break into the Jedi archives."


End file.
